Quilting

With all my March blocks done, I looked at red in the studio. I found these leftover block parts from Cherry Crunch & found that if I made a few more white string blocks & then snowballed the others, I could have a baby donation with some borders. So this is ready for my quilting partner to do her magic & then get it donated to Joyful Welcome.

These MSQC pinwheels were begun as an L&E project a couple of years ago. I pulled out the box & found that I had sewed some of the layer cake sections ready to cut into 8-at-a-time HSTs & finished 3 blocks. Many 5″ squares were cut to add to the HSTs, although as I’m working, I see that I will need to dig into my RWB drawer & cut more. But I spent quite a while this week churning out pinwheels & throwing them on the wall. The process makes mirror wheels so each row will spin in opposite directions, which is why I have 2 columns to keep things separate. I may keep working on these or jump into the new color. Who knows?

For those of you who read last week my moaning about no bright reds, guess what? I remembered that I had pulled a ton of reds into a box to make “Winter Cardinal” by Bonnie Hunter last year. But I never got around to starting it & there they sat. So some of these Nine-Patches got brights! See why I need to get projects done? And in some cases, started & done? Yes, that’s why this is the year of the finishes.

March began & not a red block in sight! Ah, well. I finished my green projects with the Starlets blocks. So all goals accomplished with an extra WIP in green.

This little personal project got me sidetracked. I bought the FPP pattern last March & planned to do it before this March, so started it in February, but it took a while. I got it together this week.

And my desk & machine look like this. I’m making a scrappy keyboard border. The plan for today is to finish it, quilt it, & get the binding on for hand-sewing. Then some red cutting can begin. Are you behind like me or busy with red??

This is what I’ve spent most of my sewing time on this week. I started the Riley Blake QAL From Our House last year by cutting all the strips for the 20 log cabin blocks in January. I made the first 4 alternate designer 6.5″ center blocks & put together 1 whole block. That’s in the upper left. I became disenchanted with the alternate blocks & it got left behind as a WIP. I really like the pattern & want to finish. Inspired by my continual harping about getting WIP’s done, my quilting partners have been sewing up their purchased kits during their personal sewing time.

I got all the pieces cut for my Starlets blocks & they will have to be sewed up today, the last day of green February. At the top you can see the FPP I started last week. I made the 4 A quadrants & still need to make B, C, & D then sew them into 4 shamrocks & turn them into a mini quilt for March.

I remembered I had another kinda green WIP that’s been hanging around for a while. The blocks were all sewed together & I had started hand quilting it months ago but the embroidered blocks are so heavy that the sashing doesn’t hold them. I unpicked & left it. On Saturday, I bought some green thread & did some FMQ with my machine in the sashing in one sitting, made & sewed on the binding, then three TV evenings got it tacked down. So this project begun in 2021 is done & hanging on the wall. I ordered a hanger as soon as I finished quilting & it got here at the same time as I finished binding. Win!

The colors are more vibrant IRL, but you may recall this “County Fair” quilt by Amy Smart from the book, “Scrap School”. It was an RSC2025 project, so you saw the blocks come together. Well, it’s done & I may have a hard time gifting it because I really love it. My quilting partners say I have a big enough house to have quilts everywhere! Hmm. Maybe so……

This has been a successful green month so far. With my monthly WIP finished, I concentrated on some of the other projects. I’m doing Our Town by Material Girl Quilts for the Quilter’s Cove QAL. It’s a free pattern from Covid days when everyone was making little house quilts. I didn’t get the January blue houses done, so made 9 this week. I’m going with scrappy gray roofs & black doors for all the houses & using up charm squares, as this is a charm square friendly pattern. Ditto for the 19 trees required, which is my green for the month. There will be no green houses, because…….green trees.